Sedated or delusional, results are the same

In last week’s column I made the statement that I feared the president was becoming delusional. Upon further review, I drastically understated the case. Not only is our learless feader out of touch with reality, we all are. You, me, them’… all of us.

The enormity of the situation sprang from a typically salient piece by the News & Record’s Lorraine Ahearn. In last Wednesday’s column Lorraine broached the subject of biofuel, which, simply put, is a refined version of vegetable oil that is able to power diesel engines. It’s an idea whose time came about a decade ago but everybody missed it. Of course, they’re not missing it now, as a fill-up for a four-cylinder Toyota blasts past the 40-dollar mark. She quoted Leif Forer, who owns a biofuel refinery in Pittsboro, as saying: ‘“We’re going through the final throes of our relationship with petroleum. But we’re incredibly capable of acting as if nothing is going on. We live in a sedated state.’”

Sedated state? Delusional? Cum se cum sa. Potato, potahto.

But wait, it’s not just Bush; he’s more a symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself. After all, 51 percent of the country, give or take a few misplaced votes in Ohio, did reelect the guy ‘— after he had committed at least seven (according to former Attorney General Ramsey Clark) impeachable offenses in his first term.

Nope, it’s time to take a cold hard look in the mirror and examine our full flight from reality, the delusional choices we make, the absurdity of trusting the government or big business to ever do the right thing for the right reasons.

It’s time to accept the aforementioned fact that our dependence on oil is not only irrational for ourselves but is surely destined to leave a barren planet for the children of our children’s children. Alternative fuel sources began being available in the ’60s but have been continuously marginalized because too much money is changing hands among big oil and the automakers to allow the little guys a piece of their action. This unholy alliance between Texas and Detroit (in which both Bushes are players) is grave, but when you throw in the fact that Saudi Arabia owns about 7 percent of America, all sorts of global ramifications come into play, all of them bad, yet all interrelated (and a subject for another rant).

And speaking of barren planets, now that The Duh has actually admitted complicity in the Katrina collapse, how about that global warming thing he refuses to acknowledge? Even though hell actually froze over once Bush owned up to a mistake, the opposite is happening here on Earth. Wake up, people, even as your government dozes.

It is not only delusional but deadly to believe that terrorism can be defeated with bigger guns and bigger bombs. This war can only be won with superior intelligence, covert ops, getting inside the terrorist’s head to see what makes him tick.

Bush had already turned a record federal surplus into a record debt, so to make up for it he cut taxes and then plunged us into an unprovoked war and then lied about the precepts. But that’s not the sedated part ‘— we let him get away with it!

Know anybody living on the west side of the San Andreas Fault? Tell them to kiss their asses goodbye, because they’re next. This one will dwarf Katrina; chew on that for awhile.

You don’t hear much about overpopulation anymore here in Short Attention-Span Theater, but, trust me, the bomb is still ticking. Of course, the Senate is getting ready to confirm a new chief justice who will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, so we can really see those masses go forth and multiply now.

In another story that got buried last week, the United States continues to lose ground in education. We are currently ninth among industrialized nations in the share of population that has at least a high school degree, and seventh in the share of people who hold a college degree. As recently as 20 years ago we ranked first in both measures.

Sedated?

As Tom Friedman (who used to be carried by the News & Record before budget cuts axed him) points out in his bestseller, The World Is Flat, anyone believing the United States can maintain its stature as a leader in a global economy even if it doesn’t manufacture anything is deluding himself. Sending jobs overseas and buying all your crap from China makes Sam a poor uncle.

Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes. If you’re waiting for the government to change it, you’re, uh, delusional. You may deserve what you get, but, dammit, the yet unborn who will reap the unjust desserts of your sedation don’t.

Ogi may be reached at ogi@yesweekly and heard Tuesdays, 9:30’–10 a.m. on WGOS 1070 AM.